Jackpot: Rivermen land scorer Sterling

Monday

Jul 4, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 4, 2011 at 3:04 AM

The Peoria Rivermen landed the biggest free agent of their AHL era on Sunday and one of the most high-profile free agents in their franchise history when the parent club St. Louis Blues signed sniper Brett Sterling to a one-year, NHL-AHL contract.

Sterling will have a chance to make the Blues team in the fall, but the veteran goalscoring ace projects to join All-Star center T.J. Hensick in Peoria to form a showcase scoring line.

Sterling, the three-time AHL All-Star, scored 55 goals as a rookie with the Chicago Wolves in 2006-07, becoming just the fifth rookie in AHL history to reach 50 goals in a season.

Dave Eminian

The Peoria Rivermen landed the biggest free agent of their AHL era on Sunday and one of the most high-profile free agents in their franchise history when the parent club St. Louis Blues signed sniper Brett Sterling to a one-year, NHL-AHL contract.

Sterling will have a chance to make the Blues team in the fall, but the veteran goalscoring ace projects to join All-Star center T.J. Hensick in Peoria to form a showcase scoring line.

Sterling, the three-time AHL All-Star, scored 55 goals as a rookie with the Chicago Wolves in 2006-07, becoming just the fifth rookie in AHL history to reach 50 goals in a season.

He has 171 goals in 319 career regular-season AHL games, plus 145 assists. In addition, he has played 52 AHL playoff games and produced 16 goals, 20 assists.

"I told people that I've had a lot of success against Peoria and in (Carver Arena), and this will be a great place for me to play," Sterling, 27, said. "I have spent five years hanging on the fringe of making the NHL, and it was time to get into a place and a situation where I could play in a good organization and know I would have a real NHL chance, too. There is an opportunity here.

"I talked to (Blues head coach) Davis Payne, and he knows my game, has seen me play, and that helps. And in Peoria, I know the personnel there, I know the building, and I sure know the teams in the division.

"T.J. Hensick is a terrific, great player, and if we end up on a line together in Peoria it will be really exciting. We're both guys pushing for an NHL spot and our games complement each other well."

Sterling's AHL career average is 42 goals per season.

He led Wilkes-Barre -- the AHL regular-season points champion last season -- in scoring. And in his five-year AHL career, the 5-foot-8, 175-pound sniper has 59 power play goals and 30 game-winning goals.

Thirty winners.

The Rivermen have seen a lot of that damage first-hand, while Sterling played with the Chicago Wolves on a super-line with AHL MVPs Darren Haydar and Jason Krog, helping them win the Calder Cup in 2007-08.

Sterling has merely piled up 28 goals, 15 assists and a +17 rating in 34 career games against the Rivermen.

"I knew I had some pretty good success against Peoria," Sterling said. "Someone asked me if I knew what team I had scored the most against. I didn't know, but I told them my guess would be the Rivermen."

Originally a fifth-round pick of Atlanta in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Sterling has played 26 games in the NHL (5 goals) with Atlanta and Pittsburgh, his size limiting his opportunities.

He was AHL Rookie of the Year in 2006-07 after finishing a career at Colorado College in which he was twice a Hobey Baker finalist and a two-time first-team All-America pick.

He scored 55 goals plus 42 assists in 77 games for Chicago in his rookie season, earning a berth on the AHL's All-Rookie team, All-Star team, and winning the league scoring title.

RIVER READINGS: The Houston Aeros, via parent club Minnesota, signed high-scoring center Jeff Taffe on Sunday. ... Former Rivermen defenseman Danny Richmond signed with Pittsburgh (Wilkes-Barre). ... AHL goalscoring ace Andrew Gordon -- who notched 28 goals in 50 games for Hershey last season -- has left Washington's organization and signed with Anaheim.

Dave Eminian is a sports reporter and hockey columnist. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com or 686-3206.